Sonora City Council will get first pay increase in 40 years | News | #citycouncil

Council members will see an increase from $125 to $218.75 per month under the newly approved ordinance. The mayor’s pay will increase from $150 to $262.50 per month.

Mayor Mark Plummer and Councilwoman Suzanne Cruz were opposed to the raises, while council members Ann Segerstrom, Andy Merrill and Matt Hawkins voted to approve them.

The total cost to the city for all five council members combined will go up $5,850 per year, from $7,800 to $13,650.

Chris Gorsky, the city’s administrative services director, said it’s the first increase to the council’s monthly pay since 1984.

It’s also the first time the council’s monthly pay has changed since 2009, when members took a voluntary reduction that cut their compensation in half.

The council’s new monthly compensation starting next July is equivalent to a 5% increase each year since 2009. 

California law allows council members and mayors in cities with 35,000 or fewer residents to receive a maximum of $950 per month.

For comparison, Tuolumne County supervisors receive annual salaries of $53,517 per year.

The council spent about 40 minutes debating the increases Monday before taking the vote. 

Council members who supported the raises argued the current rate of compensation is inadequate for the amount of work that goes into the job.

Merrill, the youngest member of the council, said he was concerned that the current compensation effectively allows only “those of us from an incredible place of privilege” to serve.

“I don’t see that as being, dreaded word here, very equitable for the people of the City of Sonora,” he said. “I don’t see that as being a true representation of the people who live here.”

Having a good-paying job shouldn’t be a requirement for participation in local government, Merrill said.

Segerstrom agreed with Merrill and said that the only people currently interested in serving on the council are retired or have the means to take on the extra work for minimal compensation.

Council members can also choose to not take their pay or donate it, Segerstrom said.

Hawkins, who also works full time, said he would sometimes spend 40 hours per week on council-related business while serving as mayor from 2020 to 2022.

“Percentage-wise, yeah, it’s a huge deal, but dollar amount? It’s not even a hundred bucks a month,” he said.

The arguments against raising the compensation centered largely around the optics after recently asking voters to approve a sales tax increase, as well as how public service should involve some sacrifice.

Cruz, who donates her council compensation to the anti-abortion Foothill Pregnancy Center in Sonora, acknowledged points made by Merrill and Segerstrom but said nobody served on the council unless they were retired when she was growing up.

“City council was just about the boring budget,” she said. “They would show up, vote on the budget, and that was it. It seems that it’s kind of morphed into something more than that, but you kind of wanted retired businesspeople to help figure out the budget and go home.”

Plummer, who has spoken against increasing the council’s compensation in the past, said he didn’t feel right about raising their pay after recently promoting a 1% sales tax increase for the city that voters ultimately approved in the November 2022 election.

The additional sales tax, passed as a ballot initiative called Measure Y, is expected to bring an additional $4 million per year in revenue for the city. In June, the council passed a status-quo budget while continuing to work on a five-year strategic plan for the additional revenue.

“Five thousand dollars is not nothing, it’s a serious amount of money, and we all make sacrifices to be here,” Plummer said. “When I take a day off, it’s expensive, but it’s an honor and a privilege to be in this spot.”